


Glomps and Jostles

by carucath



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: M/M, One Shot, Past Relationship(s), Sad, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:49:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29662716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carucath/pseuds/carucath
Summary: The Third Doctor sadly muses to Liz about Jamie and Zoe
Relationships: ...it's mentioned, ...rather than being in it perse, Second Doctor/Jamie McCrimmon
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Glomps and Jostles

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't actually a direct lead into Inferno, it's just sort of set not long before it (it's established that the Doctor has been there for a bit in Episode 1)

The Doctor stroked the TARDIS console, now outside in the garage. She had not been very happy with him for extracting the column from her — she’d gone so far as to change her walls! He didn’t like to do it, but he had to try _any_ means of escape! Liz had understood this, as had Bessie. Liz had helped him hook up the console to the extensive power source this drilling project had, far more than he had seen on Earth in this primitive time before. It had almost been worth the constant dealings with Professor Stahlman. _Almost_.

The Doctor had his back to the garage door, fixing up some pieces on the console, when Liz entered. The Doctor felt a chill on his back. He rubbed his shoulders instinctively. They felt… _bare_. He still wasn’t used to the bareness. He hadn’t realised how used to constant glomps and jostles he had been when working on anything in the TARDIS. Of course, that was a lifetime ago — a lifetime that had only been a few months ago.

“Are you alright Doctor? I just came to say that the Brigadier requests your presence”, Liz said. The Doctor nodded briefly, although he didn’t turn around.

“Oh good grief, why does he want me now?”. Liz suppressed a small smirk.

“Well it was something along the lines of ‘You are my scientific advisor so maybe give some scientific advice’”, Liz said. The Doctor rolled his eyes.

“Fat lot of good that’s been the past month — Stahlman is a stubborn old fool!”

“Orders are orders Doctor — and even you have to obey the Brigadier”. The Doctor grumbled.

“I suppose, just give me a few more minutes Zoe”

_Zoe_. He hadn’t meant to say that.

“Who’s Zoe?”, Liz asked. The Doctor flinched. He _really_ hadn’t meant to say that. He had just about managed a brief “Miss Heriot and Mr. McCrimmon no longer travel with me” to the Brigadier without breaking down, he had made it impersonal enough.

“A… an old friend of mine — not that she was- is- _will be_ old”, he answered. “She’s a bit like you actually — a genius beyond her years, you’re perhaps less haughty than her”.

“Hm, say that to my old professor! He said ‘Miss Shaw is the haughtiest woman I know!’”

“Yes, well Zoe had the gumption to correct _me_ ”, the Doctor mused. He then rubbed his bare neck, “She was often correct I suppose”. Liz giggled.

“I would have liked to meet her”, she said.

“Yes, I would have liked that too”.

“You miss her, don’t you?”

“More than you could possibly imagine Liz”, he said, still not able to look his colleague in the eye. He instead looked up to the ceiling wistfully, “Yes, Zoe and I got into some scrapes and petty arguments. I couldn’t count the number of times Jamie had to knock some sense into us”

“Who’s Jamie? Another old friend?”

_Jamie._ The Doctor felt a shiver down his spine. Oh his back was so bare — yes he was wearing a rather nice shirt and jacket but it was just him. Liz was standing nowhere near him. If Jamie had been there, he would have been peering over the Doctor’s shoulder — asking him questions that he knew he would never understand the answers to. Jamie certainly kept the Doctor steady with his strong arms almost always around the Time Lord. He wondered what Jamie would make of him now. Surely he’d be impressed at the improvement — he was taller _and_ more handsome now! And he actually wore clothes that fit! But Jamie wasn’t there with him, he was back in his own time with no memory of some of the best years of the Doctor’s lives.

“He… he was more than a friend”, the Doctor admitted — he had little care for the social mores of the time he was stuck in, and he knew that Liz was likewise.

“Ah, I see. Was it a bad break up?”, she asked, innocently enough. How could she know the truth?

“Devastating, it was one of the worst things that ever happened to me… I can’t say that I’m over it yet”, the Doctor said. Liz finally walked over to the TARDIS console, and the Doctor looked at his friend.

“I’m here if you ever need to talk. I don’t understand half the things that you say Doctor, but I know what it’s like to have my heart broken — and having to pretend that it wasn’t for respectability”, she said. The Doctor smiled.

“That’s kind of you Liz”, he said. 

“That’s the spirit Doctor!”, she said, smiling back. Her smile then dropped.

“As much as I much prefer being down here with you, I’m afraid that duty calls!”, Liz said. The Doctor tutted as he grabbed his coat.

“Yes, indeed it does”.


End file.
